About 6:30 p.m. my sister called me to tell me that Joplin MO, where my parents and brother live, had been hit by tornadoes. She and her husband were on their way there. My brother was not answering the phone, and from what little we knew about the situation, it seemed unlikely that he had escaped unscathed.
My dad is in a nursing home and I was able to verify that he was safe.
My mother fell and broke her hip two weeks ago and is in the hospital. News reports were that a hospital had been hit. The phone line to her hospital was busy every time I tried to call for over an hour.
For two hours, calls to my sister’s cell phone went straight to voice mail. Eventually my sister was able to get a call out and let me know that my brother was alive, although the house had been demolished around him. The roof was blown off and the back room simply disappeared. He was unable to find several of his dogs in the rubble, and it’s likely they’re dead.
I spoke to my brother, who was obviously in shock. He said that the neighborhood was flattened and that he had seen numerous bodies.
Mom is okay too. One major hospital has closed down completely. Another has evacuated critical patients. The hospital where Mom is suffered little damage. Last week it seemed awful that she broke her hip. However, if she’d been at home today, she probably would’ve been killed.
I’m completely freaked out and can’t sleep, so I’m posting.
Anyone else have loved ones in Joplin? It sounds like things are very bad there.
I’m so sorry you were so frightened, laina_f, and relieved for you. Very sorry your brother is a witness to such terrifying destruction. So sad about the dogs. For some reason this year the weather seems out to get us.
The news from that area is just awful. Please keep us updated, and let us know if there are any clean-up projects or specific items needed for donation. My area is still cleaning up after last month’s wicked weather, but most of us are back on our feet and willing to help.
So sorry for your brother’s pets and his home. We had a tornado less than a mile from our house today, it ripped through the neighborhood (North Minneapolis) and took off roofs and blew down trees all around us. We were lucky, though we were driving home in the storm and had a scary/wet few minutes trying to get our baby and groceries inside with the sirens going off. The power was out and we didn’t even know about the tornado until the power came back on two hours later and we found all the voicemail/email asking about us.
I’m so glad for you! That is wonderful that everyone survived. I am sorry for the losses they did suffer, especially the dogs :(, and for how scary it must have been for you all.
My dad was on the faculty at OCC until about five years ago. It’s likely that he wrote the OT History book you studied from. His initials are WF.
Phone service in and out of Joplin was nearly non-existent last night, and I haven’t talked to my sister this morning (she lives about 30 miles away). I want to do whatever I can, but don’t want to add any stress for them.
We are a family of animal lovers, and the dogs are a big concern right now. Some of the surviving dogs had to be left at the house, and we don’t know if any are injured.
Everything is gone. My brother has only the clothes on his back. No toothbrush, no comb. There’s no home for mother to go to when she’s released from the hospital.
The neighborhood where my parents lived for 45 years is gone. Neighbors are dead.
Just awful. We lived in Joplin and my husband flew the now-trashed helicopter out of St John’s. the neighborhood we used to live in is leveled. I have friends still there that I have not heard from - hoping they’ll check in the FB page set up for this.
laina, glad your family survived. Looking at the picutres and remembering how many of the houses do not have basements(mine did not), it is amazing so many people survived. Condolences to your brother for his dogs - I would be terribly upset at losing my pets.
I just got an email from my mother. My brother lives in the area. His home was not hit, but St. John’s hospital, where his wife works as a nurse was hit and damaged. She reports that the hospital was evacuated. No word about the patients though. I will try to find out more.
Heard from my friend in Joplin last night. She and her family were out of town and on the way back she decided to get a tattoo. She almost left without getting one it was so busy but decided to wait. Thank God she did, her home was flattened. It was her and her husband’s first wedding anniversary too. The pictures and video from the area are horrible.
I hear I-44 was reopened this morning. Will be traveling through there tomorrow on my way to a music festival.
So sorry to hear of your damage. Don’t lose hope yet about the doggies. Many “storm strays” from our Alabama storms have turned up, some several miles from home. There is a FB page for lost and found pets. Maybe someone will start one for animals in that area as well.
In the meantime, I’ll be making a donation to the Red Cross tomorrow to pay forward the kindness shown to my family and fellow Alabamians affected by our storms.
Glad your family is safe. I live about 45 minutes away from Joplin, and we do a lot of our shopping in the area that is now…gone. I was very worried about a friend of our family who lives down there. He and his girlfriend were shopping at Walmart, we learned later. They were hit with roof debris and falling merchandise, but are both okay.
If you live close enough to the area that you are near a donation drop-off point, they still need blankets, pillows, personal hygiene stuff, feminine napkins, diapers, etc. The situation there is really, really bad.
We have two rental homes in Joplin, both are not rented right now. We were getting ready to remodel them both. Don’t know if they are still standing. We’ll wait to check on them until after the search and rescue is done.
